Newly published research suggests that exposure to the Confederate flag, prominently displayed by millions of Americans 150 years after the Civil War may, in fact, evoke anti-black sentiments among whites, regardless of their reported racial beliefs.
The research team, led by Florida State University psychologist Joyce Ehrlinger, published their findings in the journal Political Psychology earlier this year after conducting two studies in 2008. Both studies found that white students at a prominent southern university who were exposed to images of the Confederate flag judged a fictional black character more critically, and were less willing to vote for then-presidential candidate Barack Obama.
According to the research team, the flag may, in fact, provoke discrimination, even among individuals who demonstrate little prejudice.
“Whether or not the Confederate flag includes other non-racist meanings, exposure to this flag evokes responses that are prejudicial,” the research team wrote in the journal.
The study began after the team became curious about whether or not there were factors present in the American South that could impact an individual’s racial attitude.
“We wondered whether there were factors in the South that could impact people’s willingness to vote for a black president,” read the study. “In particular, we focused on the visibility of the Confederate flag in the South. While the debate surrounding the Confederate flag has often focused on how people differ in their beliefs about the flag, we are particularly interested in one aspect of the flag’s meaning-its association with racial bias and prejudice toward blacks.”
According to the team, the research was particularly exciting around revolutionary elections.
“The 2008 election and, in particular, Barack Obama’s nomination as Democratic candidate for U.S. president, presented a timely opportunity to explore the effect of Confederate flag exposure on evaluation of a black target,” read the study. “Thus, in our first study, we explored the effects of Confederate flag exposure on willingness to vote for Barack Obama, relative to white candidates for president.”
The study combined two threads of recent psychological study focused both on the power of symbols and on the continuing reality of unconscious racist beliefs that continue to exist among the general population. The first study conducted in 2008 featured 108 white and 22 black college students. Half of the participants were subliminally exposed to images of the Confederate flag, which popped up on their computer screens up to 20 times in rapid, 15-millisecond appearances. The second half of participants was exposed to a neutral symbol composed of colored lines.
Following the exposure, participants were asked to rate the likelihood that they would vote for the four major presidential candidates: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Mike Huckabee. They were then asked to rate their political orientation, as well as the degree with which they identified themselves as a southerner. Although the study found that exposure to the flag had no effect on their self-reported feelings toward liberalism and conservatism, it did suggest that the flag’s psychic impact was on racial rather than ideological attitudes.
“White participants exposed to the Confederate flag reported a significantly lower likelihood of voting for Obama than those exposed to the neutral symbol,” read the report.
The team’s second study featured 116 white students.
“In Study Two, we sought to examine whether the effect of Confederate flag exposure extended beyond President Obama, resulting in negative judgments of black targets, in general,” read the study. “We also explored, in Study Two, whether exposure to the Confederate flag made personally held racial attitudes more accessible or whether the effect of flag priming on evaluation of black targets might occur as often among individuals both low and high in prejudice.”
In this study, half of the participants were exposed to the Confederate flag via a sticker attached to a folder left on their desk. Participants were told that someone had left the folder behind in a previous, unrelated session.
The students were asked to read a story about a black man named Robert, known for engaging in “ambiguously negative and aggressive behavior.” Participants were also given a picture of Robert to coincide with the story.
According to the story, Robert refused to pay his rent until his landlord agreed to paint his apartment. The story also featured Robert demanding his money back from a store clerk. Upon reading the story, participants were asked to assess Robert’s character using a series of negative and positive traits. They were asked to rank the degree to which they considered him to be “kind,” “aggressive” and “selfish.” Participants were also asked to take a survey regarding their underlying, or unconscious attitudes toward black people.
The study’s results showed that individuals who were exposed to the Confederate flag before answering the questions rated Robert increasingly more negatively than individuals who were not exposed to the flag.
“The size of this effect was not related to participants’ preexisting racial attitudes,” Ehrlinger reported. “[This suggests] the automatic effects of Confederate flag exposure might lead even people low in prejudice to evaluate President Obama and other black targets in a more negative light.”
According to the researchers, Study Two revealed that bias was not predicated by individuals’ racial attitudes.
“Confederate flag exposure does not increase accessibility of personal racial attitudes,” read the study. “Rather, it seems to increase accessibility of culturally associated prejudice and results in negative judgments of black targets among high and low prejudice participants.”
The team’s research led them to conclude that although some individuals who hold the Confederate flag in high esteem might be disappointed to hear the newest findings, the outcome suggests that the meaning of the flag is in fact more complex and consequential than what was previously believed.
“We argue that the debate over whether it is appropriate to display the Confederate flag in positions of prominence should include a discussion of how exposure to that flag might promote negative judgments of and behavior toward black individuals, by virtue of its association with racial bias,” read the conclusion. “Our studies show that, whether or not the Confederate flag includes other non-racist meanings, exposure to this flag evokes responses that are prejudicial. Thus, displays of the Confederate flag may do more than inspire heated debate; they may actually provoke discrimination even among those who are low in prejudice.”